During the first half of the year, Asia-Pacific contributed the majority of UBS Wealth Management’s net new money, according to the bank’s quarterly report.
For the six months to the end of June, Asia-Pacific inflows were $17.3bn, followed by Europe, Middle East and Africa ($7.4bn) and Switzerland($4.3bn).
The Americas, however, had net outflows of $8.4bn in the first half.
Looking at the second quarter alone, globally the wealth management unit had net new money outflows of $1.7bn compared to net outflows of $1.2bn during the same period a year prior. “The outflows were mainly driven by seasonal income tax payments in the Americas,” the report said.
For the second quarter, Apac had net inflows of $1.1bn.
Globally, the UBS Group reported a slight increase in net profit for the quarter to $1.39bn compared to $1.38bn during the same period last year.
Apac growth
In terms of wealth management, the region’s first half net new inflows of $17.3bn is already nearly the same as its full-year 2018 inflows of CHF 17.3bn ($16.96).
The firm’s invested assets in Asia-Pacific continued to increase, reaching $411bn at the end of June 2019 from $4o5bn at the end of March and $357bn in December 2018.
According to a previous FSA report, Amy Lo, co-head of wealth management for Asia-Pacific, said in a statement that the firm’s Asia-Pacific inflows are due to the performance of its “managed solutions” (discretionary portfolio business).
Seeking future Apac growth, UBS recently entered the Japan market. Last month, the firm announced a wealth management venture with Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Trust to offer products and services to clients from both franchises.
